Norman Paul Felts, Child Pornography, California 2013

A California man has been convicted of possessing child pornography, despite being a three-time convicted sex offender. Norman Paul Felts, 70, of Ensenada, Mexico, was found guilty of possession of matters containing images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, with a prior sex offense.

Felts was arrested by Special Agents with Homeland Security Investigations in June 2013, and has been in custody ever since. According to the evidence presented to the court, Felts possessed a loose hard drive containing several images of child pornography between January 2010 and May 28, 2013.

The investigation began with a Cybertip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which referred the tip to the HSI Representative for the Office of the Assistant Attaché in Tijuana, Mexico for further investigation. Authorities located a male minor who worked on Felts' boat in Mexico, and Felts stipulated at trial that he took sexually-explicit pictures of the boy, knowing the boy was underage.

Felts has three prior sex offense convictions, dating back to 1972, when he was convicted of oral copulation. He was also convicted of child molestation in Georgia in 1977, and procurement of a minor under 16 for a lewd act in 1999.

Felts faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and up to 20 years in prison, a lifetime of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for March 27, 2015.

United States Attorney Laura E. Duffy commended the CBP officers and HSI Special Agents who worked diligently to prevent purveyors of child pornography from continuing to exploit these children both here in the United States and abroad.

Felts' arrest was a result of an investigation stemming from a Cybertip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The NCMEC referred the tip to the HSI Representative for the Office of the Assistant Attaché in Tijuana, Mexico for further investigation.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdca/pr/three-time-convicted-sex-offender-convicted-possession-child-pornography